Student Writing Contests and Publishing Opportunities

Please be aware many deadlines are early in the month!

Most contests run annually, so once a deadline has passed, students can consider entering the following year.  

Congratulations to winners of the regional Scholastic Writing Contest! Out of thousands of entries, KatyISD students received 5 Gold Key and 16 Silver Key awards, as well as 27 honorable mentions. Gold key winners will now advance to the national competition. Below are the winners:

Gold Key Winners: Cameron Bell (Beck JH), Helli Fang (Beck JH), Haley Hewitt (SLHS), Aniket Joshi (Beckendorff JH), Perrin Mercer (CRHS)

Silver Key Winners: Paula Benavides (CRHS), Mijee Bergbauer (Beck JH), Kati Briggs (SLHS), Ana Csitkovits (CRHS), Josephine Gurch (CRHS), Avni Halabe (Beckendorff JH), Regan Murrell (Beck JH), Amy Ozsdolay (SLHS), Rachel Phot (SLHS), Mary Rouhiainen (CRHS), Lauren Smith (CRHS), Jesse Sparks (CRHS), Kourtney Tams (CRHS), Zoe Westerman (SLHS) William Xu (Beck JH)

Honorable Mention: John Baumgartner (SLHS), Mijee Bergbauer (Beck JH), Natalie Black (CRHS), Renee Brumbaugh (CRHS), Brett Connors (SLHS), Crystal Fisher (SLHS), Sierra Garza (SLHS), Ana Gutierrez (CRHS), Sarah Hopper (Beck JH), Yewande Ifanse (CRHS), Morgan Kennedy (SLHS), Elizabeth Kunigisky (SLHS), Ross Miglin (CRHS), Kayla O’Rourke (SLHS), Matthew Pagano (CRHS), Kevin Poche (CRHS), Tess Reyes (SLHS), Madison Scott (SLHS), Madi Shull (SLHS), Emily Stepanek (CRHS), Kyle VanderHeyden (SLHS), Molly Wade (CRHS), Kristen Wilker (SLHS), Anthony Williams (SLHS),William Xu (Beck JH)

Sponsoring teachers:

Beck Junior High: Ann Prados, Allyson Purdy
Beckendorff: Elise Dillard
CRHS: Marcia Simmons, Ed Larsen, Linda Hill, Nancy Allen
SLHS: Jonathan Frishman , Petty Ratcliffe, Lori Newland, Ann Welsh, Lacey Burkhart, Dawn Igaz, Rudy Dela Rosa, Robin Stauffer, Pam Cannon

• National Gallery of Writing: A joint project of the Library of Congress and the National Council of Teachers of English. Students may post their writing to existing galleries or teachers may create galleries for their students.
• The Blue Pencil Online: Where High School Writers Publish: Submissions accepted October through April, except for February.
• Resources for Teen Writers Interested in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing  
• Teen Ink: (13-19 years old) Monthly publication of student writing
• Merlyn's Pen magazine (1985-2001) is no longer in print, but you can read nearly its entire collection of stories, poems, and essays at www.merlynspen.org in the New Library of Young Adult Writing. The New Library serves some 2,000 teachers, students, textbook editors, and assessment developers each week as they seek out top models of student writing
• Contests to Avoid: a list of sites that offer contests in order to sell books (vanity press)
• Online Opportunities for Young Writers: (A well-done collection of publishing opportunities for students from elementary to high school)

If you have suggestions for other contests, problems with broken links, or are/know of a KISD student who has won a writing contest, please contact:

Martha Nelson
Katy ISD Writing Contest Coordinator